The Accidental Matchmaker
by carlaisnt
Summary: Julie Taylor, Tim Riggins, Tyra Collette, and the movie Garden State. Tim/Tyra, mentions of Matt/Julie. AU after end of 2x9


Title: The Accidental Matchmaker  
Fandom: Friday Night Lights  
Word Count:   
Rating: PG-13  
Characters: Julie POV, Tyra/Tim, mentions of Julie/Matt  
Spoilers / Warnings: 2x9  
Author's Note: Not mine! I started this before 2x10, so this is set maybe a month later, and in this, Tim is still staying at the Taylors and Tyra and Landry had a public relationship and then broke up. Very minor spoilers for Garden State.

She's not sure why she doesn't tell Tyra about Tim Riggins sleeping on her couch. Maybe it's because sometimes, when he's not watching game tapes with her dad or trying overly hard to please her mom, she notices him sneak away to sit on the porch staring at the telephone, his finger poised to dial. Only once has she seen him actually dial a number, and when she hears him say, "Tyra, please, just –" in a tone she never would have expected from a guy like Tim Riggins, she takes in a sharp breath of air. She's seen him hang up and look down at his hands dejectedly, his shoulders slumped, the way she imagined Matt would look when she canceled plans on him all summer.

Maybe it's because Tyra hasn't been herself since she broke up with Landry a few weeks ago, but when Julie thinks about that, she realizes she hadn't been acting the same for much longer. She'd been so caught up in her own drama she hadn't noticed the changes in her friend, until now. Now she feels guilty and wants their easy friendship back. So she invites Tyra over for a movie night, just the girls.

Except now she's in a predicament, because not telling Tyra about Tim's crashing means praying he'll leave the house before eight o'clock on a Friday with no football game, which he hasn't done much since he moved in. That's what surprised her the most. With all the talk of Tim Riggins, badass extraordinaire, he doesn't do much of anything. Just goes to school and football practice, and then comes home and plays with Baby Gracie and sucks up to her mom while looking down her top.

Now the doorbell is ringing and she's racing towards the door, but it's too late. Tim Riggins, his arm around the baby and a spit-up rag over his shoulder, is swinging the door wide to reveal an open-mouthed, narrow-eyed Tyra.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Tyra hisses. "And who in their right mind gave you a baby?" Tim looks shell-shocked for a moment then recovers, a careless smirk now fully in place. Julie feels her face cringe before she can even think about interjecting.

"I live here now. Which you would know, if you ever picked up your damn phone." If her mom weren't taking a nap, she'd be covering the baby's ears and glaring at him. She'd probably put him to work in the kitchen and smooth things over with Tyra and everything would be perfect within ten seconds. Tim grins smarmily, "Welcome to Casa de Riggs."

"Whatever. I can't deal with this right now." She pushes past him and looks towards her. "Can we just go to your room or something?" Julie nods, somewhat petrified. She doesn't dare look over at Tim as she follows Tyra marching down the hallway towards her bedroom.

When they get to her room, she barely has time to shut the door behind her when Tyra whirls around and sticks a finger right in her face. She's seen Tyra mad before, many times, but she's never seen her like this. Usually when she's angry, she makes it known. She'll sneer or rant or _something_, but right now she's all quiet ire.

"How could you not tell me he was here?" Julie peeks up from below her bangs and frowns.

"I, I don't know. I just didn't know how. I am so sorry. Look, I'll just go ask him to leave if it bothers you that much." Then the look on Tyra's face dissipates and the tension bubbles over, and Julie can't figure out which look is worse.

"Oh, no. Don't do that. Tim being around is the last thing I need, but there's no way in hell I'm giving him the satisfaction of _knowing_ it. He just… gets to me, you know?" She nods, mutely, hoping to encourage her to continue. Tyra had never really said much about her and Tim Riggins, just that they had a lot of history and he'd been there for her through some rough times. She'd already known some things about their stormy relationship; even the gossip chain at Dillon High reached her and Lois when it came to first-string football players. She didn't know exactly how much of what she had heard she should take to heart, but now she was starting to get an idea. "It's like, we know each other so well and we know exactly the ways to piss each other off the most. And we do all of them." She chuckles, preoccupied with whatever memory is playing inside her head. She doesn't say anything further, and Julie searches for something to say to comfort her, ultimately coming up completely blank. God, couldn't she have gotten any of her mom's useful genes?

"Well, do you still want to watch the movie? I rented Garden State, and it's really good. And I made cookies, and bought popcorn. You don't have to talk to him at all. Or we can just hang out in here, or go out and eat or something, although my hair is kind of a mess today." Julie smiles hopefully, blowing up at her bangs. Tyra sighs and nods, resigned.

"Chocolate chip?" she grins.

Of course when they get to the living room, there Tim is, propped up on the couch, seemingly captivated by a man playing golf on TV. The baby's lying in his lap fast asleep, curled against his stomach, and it should be really cute, but all Julie can think is, who the heck watches golf on television? Beside her, Tyra snorts. He finally turns his head towards them and has the nerve to shush them. In her own house! She rolls her eyes and motions for him to move, but he shakes his head vigorously.

Her mom chooses this moment to make her appearance. She flashes a grin at Tyra, who responds in kind. "Hi, Tyra, how are you, sweetie? Haven't seen much of you lately. We miss you over here!" Again, Tim has the audacity to make a shushing noise. Tami just smiles and shrugs, reaching out for the baby. "Here, lemme take her from you. Hi there, Gracie Belle. Looks like you need another nap." She continues to fuss over the baby while the standoff over the couch remains. Tim just stretches his arms over the top of the cushion and smiles at the girls.

"Come on, you know I don't bite." Tyra raises an eyebrow and looks at him like he just said the worst pickup line in the history of the world. Which could be true, too, but she bets that things like that usually actually work for him. He chuckles. Julie rolls her eyes at him again and tugs Tyra's hand toward the kitchen. They retreat in search of cookies.

As she pulls a couple from the Tupperware into which she had carefully placed them earlier, she can feel Tim's eyes on her back. Or on Tyra's back. It's not as if she can actually tell where his eyes are, but she's pretty sure he's gazing in their general direction. She bites her lip nervously, before taking a big bite of her cookie and chewing slowly. She pivots halfway towards the living room and half-listens as Tyra tells her about the latest drama between the waitresses and hostesses at Applebee's. She sneaks a glance at Tim, who quickly turns back towards the television as if he hadn't been staring at them a moment ago. She rolls her eyes skyward.

"So, finally, I just told her if she had a problem with me, she should say something instead of giving me grabby, asshole customers who can't tip. And then she says… Jules?" Julie spins around to look at Tyra's inquisitive face.

"Yeah?" she replies hesitantly. Tyra drops her voice and tilts her head.

"Is my story boring you? Is there something more interesting over there in the living room?" she affects a genuinely curious tone of voice, but Julie knows what she's really thinking.

"Um, no. S-sorry. So, what did Denise say when you told her that?" Tyra gives her a disbelieving smile but goes back to her story.

"Oh, just that there was," she raises her voice to a pretentious falsetto, "no problem whatsoever and she had no idea who might be spreading _such vicious rumors_. Then she gives me Tom Lafferty, AKA Mr. Twenty-five percent." Tyra grins evilly. Julie sighs softly in relief and smiles back at her. It feels good to be her co-conspirator once again.

They make their way back to the living room and her eyes again fall on Tim Riggins, lounging in the midpoint of her couch. She looks uncomfortably back and forth between her invited guest and the football player who's been sleeping on the couch. Tyra is studiously ignoring Tim as she sways her hips over towards him, slouching onto the cushion and laying her forearm on the armrest casually. Julie finishes off the cookie she's been nibbling on and moves to put the DVD in the player. Unable to avoid it any longer, she goes to sit on Tim's other side. Her spine is stick straight, and she's clutching the armrest like a floating device that's going to save her from this situation.

"So what are we watchin' tonight?" Tim grins, oblivious to the tension or smartly ignoring it. Julie looks at him, clearly annoyed, but decides to answer him anyway. Anything to make this night less painful.

"It's called Garden State. Um, it's about this guy who goes home after his mom dies, but it's really funny, kind of dark humor, and just, really great. Have you ever seen Scrubs?" The blank look he gives her makes it obvious he hasn't. Tyra studies the fingernail beds on her left hand. "Well, it's this show about doctors, and it's really funny, and the guy from it is in this. And he wrote it, and directed it too. It's… pretty cool." He just gazes at her with a bemused smile, like her babbling is funny. Which, it isn't. Is it? Tyra is now comparing the lengths of the nails on her right hand, but when she finishes her speech, she looks up and smiles softly at her to let her know she was actually listening. She doesn't want to judge, but she kind of gets the feeling Tim Riggins won't like this type of movie. Maybe it'll even make him leave. Maybe.

"Cool. Can I have a cookie?" Tim asks, hardly waiting for an answer. She nods uselessly. He practically jumps out of his seat and bounds into the kitchen, retrieving the box. He's starting on his third by the time he sits down again. The movie is starting up and Zach Braff is a waiter in a Vietnamese restaurant responding to some hipsters' dumb questions. Julie sighs dreamily, and Tyra appears both interested and uninterested in that way she has. Tim is surprisingly intent while he chews on his chocolate chips.

By the time Zach is standing in a phone booth at the airport, Julie is holding her breath. She's seen this movie about a thousand times, but she always sniffles a little at the end. It's just so, so beautiful. She hopes she doesn't cry this time. Not in front of Tyra, and definitely not in front of Tim Riggins. They're both quiet and seemingly still. She glances over at them, at Tyra's softened face and hopeful eyes, at Tim's hair falling in a curtain around his face. She smiles a bit to herself, glad that they are just as wrapped up in the story as she was. Then she looks down, and sees something magical. Tim's index finger is hooked through Tyra's belt loop, not tugging or pushing, just resting there carefully and subtly possessive. It reminds her of the way Matt used to touch her, so delicately and precisely, as if she were something to be protected and cherished. She settles her hands on her lap and smiles to herself.


End file.
